Apparatus for elevating fluids.



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G. RBITER.

APPARATUS FOR ELEVATING FLUIDS.

APPLICATION FILED APR.14, 1903.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3 172 veni'or' VVzinesses PATENTED DEC. 26, 1905.

G. RBITER. APPARATUS FOR ELBVATING FLUIDS.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4 APPLICATION FILED APR. 14, 1903.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 1

Applieation filed April 14:, 1903. Serial No. 152,522.

T at whmn it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE REITER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Pleasantridge, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus forElevating Fluids, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide an improved apparatus forelevating fluids; and the invention consists in the combinations andarrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of apparatusembodying my invention; Fig. 2, a section on line 2 2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3,a section on line 3 3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4:, a perspective view of thevalve-operating mechanism, and Fig. 5, a sectional elevation of amodified form of application of my invention.

Referring to the apparatus illustrated in Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4 of thedrawings, reference-letter, A denotes a series of tanks arranged atsuccessively higher elevations. The lowest of tanks Ais set in the wateror other fluid to be elevated or is in communication therewith. A pipe0, provided with a checkvalve (0, serves to admit water to tank A. Asystem of pipes B, having their lower ends near the bottoms of tanks Aand provided with check-valves Z) and having their upper ends openinginto the upper portions of tanks A and provided with check-valves 5',connect the tanks A. Compressed air is furnished to the upper portionsof tanks A through a pipe O, having a branch pipe 0 communicating withpipe D through a valve E,and each tank A has an exhaust-pipe Fopeninginto the atmosphere and in communication with pipe G through valve H.The valves E and H each carry, respectively, a disk 6 and it, provided,respectively, with a stop eand it. Ashaft I is rotatably mounted betweendisks 6 and h and carries at either end a disk '5, provided with stops2' and 2'", adapted to engage stops 6 and /t on disks 6 and 7t.Stop-pins i are provided to limit the movement of .disks t'. The shaft Iis operated by means of a float J, which is mounted on arms and f toswing relatively to shaft I. Aweight K is attached to shaft I, andstop-arms L and L are attached to shaft I with their bent ends Z lyingin the path of arms and 7' A beam at serves as a rest to stop weight Kon either side of shaft I.

In operation compressed air or other gas under pressure is supplied topipe C from any suitable source. (Not shown.) The valves and thevalve-operating mechanism are set so that valve E is closed and valve Hopen, with the float J in the position shown in Fig. 4:. Water flowsinto the lowest tank A through pipe ct, valveH acting as anexhaust-valve to permit the escape of the air in tank A, and the float Jis carried upwardly on the surface of the watercomingintothetank.Asthefloatrises,

arm 7" engages the bent end of stop-arm L and causes shaftI to rotatewith float J. The rota tion of shaft I raises weight K. When weight Kpasses the vertical through shaft I, it falls over the other side of theshaft and continues the rotation of the shaft. At this time stops a"have moved up to engage stops 6 and h on disks 6 and it, so that thefall of weight K rotates disks 6 and it to open valve E and close valveH simultaneously. Thus compressed air is admitted from pipe C to theupper portion of tank A, and the communication of tank A with theatmosphere is shut off. The pressure of the compressed air drives thewater in tank A up through the pipe B into the tank A next above. Herethe same operation takes place. As the water fills the upper tank theair is permitted to escape through valve H; but as soon asthe weightfalls over shaft I valve E is opened, valve H closed, and the waterforced to the next tank, and so on through the system until the water israised to any desired elevation, depending on the number of tanks andtheir vertical distance apart. The check-valves b and 5 serve to retainthe water in pipes B during the filling of the tanks. As soon as thewater-level in a tank begins to fall as the water is forced to the nexttank above the float J falls with it. The previous fallof weight Khaving carried stop-arm L around to engage arm 7' the fall of float Jcarries shaft I with it, and

consequently raises weight K. As weight K again passes the vertical itagain falls to continue the rotation of shaft I. By this time stops 2:have moved back to engagement with stops 6' and it, so that the fall ofweight K closes valve E and opens valve H, leaving the water free toenter the tank again, as before. The beam m limits the fall of Weight Kon either side of shaft 1, and stop-pins i limit the movement of disks2' to that necessary to open and close valves E and H. Thus the tanks Awill be alternately filled and emptied until the water reaches theuppermost tank, when'it may be discharged at that level. It will benoted that with this apparatus fluids IIO may be elevated to any desiredheightby the use of a moderate degree of pressure. Owing to the factthat the valves in each tank operate independently of the valves in theother tanks and through the medium of the local conditions in each tank,nice adjustment of the parts is avoided, and the action of each tank isautomatically delayed or expedited to meet the conditions in each tankseparately. It will benoted that the fall of weightK will fully open andclose both valves E and H irrespective of the changein conditions in thetanks.

WVhile I have shown the operative connections between float J and theweight K and valves E and H, as located in the tanks, it is obvious thatthese parts may be located outside the tanks and suitable connectionsprovided between the float J inside the tanks and weight K and valve Eand H outside the tank or some of the operative connections may beinside and others outside the tanks.

The vertical distance between each tank A is limited by the pressureemployed in pipe 0, being a little less than the height of a column ofwater which the pressure will support. Atmospheric pressure will supporta column of water about thirty-three feet high, so that if the pressureemployed in pipe C was something over three atmospheres the tanks Acould be placed one hundred feet above each other, although the greaterthe excess of pressure over that necessary to support the column thegreater the speed of flow between the tanks.

In Fig. 5 I have illustrated amodified form of application of myinvention, in which a suction-pump as distinguished from a compressormay be utilized. Here the pipe 0' is equipped with an ordinary pump Gwhich serves to exhaust the air in pipe C. The other connections andoperative parts are the same as in the former example except that thelowest tank A is not submerged in the water to be elevated, but iselevated and connected with the water by a pipe (4 Valve E is set openin the position shown in Fig. 5, and valve H is set closed. Hereoperation of pump 0 exhausts the air from pipe G and tanks A. As the airis exhausted from the lowest tank A atmospheric pressure forces water upthrough pipe (0 to take its place and till the tank. When the tank isalmost full, float J operates to close valve E and open valve H. This admits atmospheric pressure to this tank, and as the next tank above isalready partially exhausted of its air and pump continues to exhaust itfurther the water from the lower tank is forced into the next upper tankby the atmospheric pressure. Here the same operations are repeated toforce the water into the next tank above, and so on to the top of thesystem. As soon as the lowest tank is emptied of its water the floatoperates to open valve E and close valve H, so that the tank is againexhausted while the second lowest is emptying. Approximately by the timethat the second tank is emptied into the third the first is full again,and so on up the system every other tank will be filling and every othertank emptying. Thus the water may be raised to any desired height by theuse of a suction-pump.

The vertical distance between tanks A is limited by the pressure exertedby the atmosphere, being somewhat less than the column of watersupported by atmospheric pressure. Atmospheric pressure will support acolumn of water about thirty-three feet high, so that the tanks A inthis instance might be placed, for example, twenty-five feet apart,although the closer they are together the faster will be the flowbetween them.

It will be noted that the utilization of a suction-pump is but adifferent application of the same principle that underlies the use ofthe compressor. In both cases pressure is utilizedwith the suction pumpatmospheric pressure, with the compressor compressed-air pressure suchchanges being made in operation of the apparatus as to adapt it to themaintenance and utilization of the particular form of pressure employed.

If desired, one of the tanks A and its operative parts may be utilizedfor a single elevation of fluid; but in this case the elevationobtainable will not be over the height of a column of water which thepressure employed will sustain.

While I have shown and described the preferred form of application of myinvention, this is capable of many variations without departing from thespirit of the iinvention. I therefore do not wish to be limited to theexact form of apparatus shown; but

hat 1 claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of tanks A; pipesB connecting the lower portions ofthe lower tanks with the upper portions of the upper tanks; pipes Ccontaining gas under pressure; pipes c and D, and F and G, connectingthe upper portions of tanks A with pipes U and the atmosphere; valves Eand H; float J in tanks A; and connections between float J and valves Eand H for opening valve E and closing valve H when the tanks arecharged, and for opening valve H and closing valve E when the tanks aredischarged, substantially as specilied.

2. The combination of tanks A; pipesBconnecting the lower portions ofthe lower tanks with the upper portions of the upper tanks; check-valves7) and Z); pipe C containing gas under pressure; pipes c and D, and Fand G, connecting the upper portions of tanksA with pipe C and theatmosphere; valves E and H; float J in tanks A; and connections betweenfloat J and valves E and H for opening valve E and closing valve H whenthe tanks are charged, and for opening valve H and closing valve E whenthe tanks are discharged, substantially as specified.

3. The combination of tanks A; pipesBconnecting the lower portions ofthe lower tanks with the upper portions of the upper tanks; check-valvesZ2 and I); pipe C containing gas under pressure; pipes 0 and D, and Fand G, connecting the upper portions of tanks A with pipe C and theatmosphere; valves E and H; float J mounted on arms j and shaft I havingstop-arms L and L engaging arms 1" and 7' weight K on shaft I; disks 2'having stops 2" and 2' and stop-pins "J and disks 6 and 7b gaging stopse and it, substantially as speci- 4. The combination, in a floatoperated mechanism, of valves E and H; float J mounted on arms j and 1'shaft I having arms L and L adapted to engage arms 7' and 1' weight K onshaft I; and connections between shaft I and valves E and H,substantially as specified.

5. The combination, in a fioatoperated mechanism, of valves E and H;float J mounted on arms 7" and f shaft I having arms L and L adapted toengage arms and 9' weight K on shaft I; disks 6 and k on valves E and H;stops 6 and h on disks 6 and it, disks 1' on shaft I; and stops and i ondisks a, substantially as specified.

GEORGE REITER.

Witnesses:

EVELYN AsH, BRAYTON G. RICHARDS.

